


it’s you that i lie with

by ParachuteBork



Series: what am i supposed to do (without you) [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/F, One Shot, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Yall this is sad, canon typical sadness, i put the major character death just in case, the spoilers is there for the volume in general, this hasn’t happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29570193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParachuteBork/pseuds/ParachuteBork
Summary: “Yang?” Blake’s ears perked up, turning around to face her teammate.  But instead of seeing a look of relief upon hearing news about Yang, she watches Weiss’s face morph into one of horror.Weiss whispers, “She’s in the whale? A bomb?” Blake looks at Ruby, her tired face as confused as the faunus.Weiss’s voice cracks. “No. No. Winter you can’t.”And Blake understands.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Series: what am i supposed to do (without you) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2184594
Comments: 23
Kudos: 175





	it’s you that i lie with

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was born from reading “flume” by [burnshoney](/users/burnshoney/) and too much theory time with [Fandom_Menace](/users/Fandom_Menace/) plus my own pain and overthinking so thank you to the first two people for being great!  
> The title is from “As the World Caves in” by Matt Maltese and I would highly recommend listening to the following song while reading this:
> 
> https://youtu.be/a5RTVoreSAY
> 
> Thank you for reading!

Thunder rolls across the wheat fields of Atlas out of the window, mobs of shadows clashing with clusters of white. There are some groups that do not move, shadows rushing over them. Blake knows that there will be pools of crimson where the unmoving bodies lay.

Around Weiss’s room-turned-hospital, Whitley and Willow Schnee huddle around a dimly glowing laptop, sending more supplies to the people of Mantle. Ruby watches Klein tend to the wounds on Penny, nervously waiting for the maiden to reawaken as she bandages her own cuts and scrapes from the encounter with the strange grimm. Weiss is tending to Nora in her bed, replacing the damp cloth on her forehead.

Across the room, a sprightly musical tinkling is heard from a scroll, breaking the thick air of danger.

Weiss pulls it out of her pocket, eyes widening as she looks at the screen.

“It’s Winter.” Weiss says. The other Schnees glance at her, before lowering their heads and focusing more intently on their work. Ruby gets up, walking over and squeezing her partner’s shoulder. Weiss accepts the call.

“Winter, why are you calling?” Blake turns her back to her friends, a feeble attempt to give Weiss a semblance of privacy, gazing back out of the window. Purple streaks of dust cross the sky, intercepting hordes of grimm. She thinks of a bandana, dusty but still somehow bright, like eyes and promises.

“Going in? Are you okay?” Weiss begins pacing, heels clicking against the once pristine tile, now dirty and bloodied.

“No one’s seen them come back out of what? Who did you arrest?” Ruby scoffs, annoyance with the Atlas military evident. Seeing as their current problems all revolved around Ironwood plus everything Atlas had done to the Faunus, Blake was the last person to want to argue with her.

“Winter, what do you mean?” Weiss’s voice raised as she stopped pacing.

“Yang?” Blake’s ears perked up, turning around to face her teammate. But instead of seeing a look of relief upon hearing news about Yang, she watches Weiss’s face morph into one of horror.

Weiss whispers, “She’s in the whale? A bomb?” Blake looks at Ruby, her tired face as confused as the faunus. 

Weiss’s voice cracks. “No. _No._ Winter you can’t.” 

And Blake understands.

She doesn’t know what happens, but she is outside viewing the carnage on the plains of Atlas like an unfeeling god in heaven above.

In her hand, Yang beams at her, lilac eyes full of mirth. The scroll rings, an empty dial tone met only with silence.

The freezing air of Atlas bites at her cheeks, the smoke and ash carving out her lungs. She watches as Atlas planes retreats from the sky, tiny ant soldiers retreating back to their hills, all but a single white spec visible through the haze next to the ginormous grimm.

Ruby is next to her, eyes flickering as they brim with tears. Blake thinks of a whispered confession one night after Haven, recounting anguish and blinding light atop a broken tower, then nothingness. 

Weiss is screaming into her scroll, begging. Her voice is raw, stripped to the pleas of a child. There is loud enough yelling in the background of the call that Blake can hear gruff voices barking out orders to run.

“Winter, please.“ The line cuts out. 

No one speaks for a moment, the only sounds ragged breathing and the screams of innocents from the streets below. Blake’s scroll rings again.

Weiss breaks the silence. “If we take an airship maybe we can-“

“No. No we can’t. It’s my fault. She would be next to us if it weren’t for me.” There is no waver in Ruby’s voice. Blake turns in shock. The young girl’s eyes are no longer flickering. There is no light in them at all.

Weiss gasps, drawing a breath to argue. “Ruby, no it’s not.“

Before she has the chance to finish, there is a gravity that stops her. Blake looks out to the fields of Atlas, involuntarily moving.

And as Blake turns, her soul implodes as the sky ignites.

Her ears ring.

Someone is screaming.

Sobbing, really.

Weiss later will whisper to her that it was her own scream, torn apart like a piece of herself. Weiss will tell her that was when her own tears began to fall.

Blake does not stop.

Something grabs her, holding her from sprinting towards the explosion. Blake struggles, trying to break free of the grip.

“She can’t. I didn’t get to tell her.” Her voice tears itself apart. Blake tries to run towards the explosion, the counterweight behind her causing them both to fall to the ground. She claws at gloved hands.

Ruby has sunken to her knees beside her, quiet except for near silent sobs racking through her lungs.

Weiss calls her name, holding Blake from crawling towards the streaks of rock gracing the sky. Blake struggles for a few seconds more, begging Weiss to let go of her. Her grip tightens.

She stops fighting, going limp on her hands and knees. She pounds against the concrete, the rock tearing into her skin, as if that would change anything. Weiss holds her and Ruby as the battlefield returns to bloodshed below. 

The three of them huddle together, Weiss’s head buried into Blake’s shoulder. Ruby lays in the faunus’s lap, staring at the ground blankly. Blake and Weiss hold her hands.

Footsteps are heard behind them as gasps of horror are released. The huddle does not look up. 

No words are said.

What is there to say?

Blake wails. 

She lets out the only breath she has left, lungs depleted and gut empty. It is barely audible.

“We’re supposed to be protecting each other.”

Blake’s scroll rings one more time before cutting out and a voice speaking.

 _“Hey this is Yang, I’m probably busy with my team, so leave a message after the beep and I’ll make sure to get back to you!”_ Yang’s voice is replaced with the pause of a metallic tone.

There is only static.


End file.
